The Asshole on the Bus
by Staying-anchored
Summary: Ninten keeps to himself, be it drawing fellow bus passengers, sitting at the lunch table alone, or silently going online in his living room while his cousin Ness plays video games near by. When a boy named Claus starts teasing Ninten, he has no choice but to take a stand. Unfortunately Ninten has two left feet...
1. Daily bus ride

_-1-_

* * *

"Crap." Ninten muttered, erasing the pencil mark on the corner of his paper. He often drew on the bus despite the bumpy quality, pretending that it gave his art some sort of unique quality, but mostly he did it to give himself something to do besides talking to strangers. He often used fellow bus riders for reference, especially the girls since otherwise the female anatomy would look like a bit question mark in the sky [_I __'m tal__king to you Michelangelo_.]

The bus pulled over to let on a very particular passenger. He was tall and confident, often flirting casually with the bus driver or humming songs to himself in his seat whilst staring out the was the third day in a row the ginger boy sat in front of him during his daily bus ride home. Ninten flipped open to a fresh page in his sketchbook and went to work. _16 stops to go. _

The boy had an interesting feature that intrigued Ninten, one of his irises was a bright carmine. It looked like a robin peaking out between the shadowy branches of his eyelashes, and oh _god_ was it beautiful. Ninten wrote out a small list of possible explanations for the pigmentation in the corner of his sketchbook:

_-A battle related injury _

_-Fight club_

_-Pink eye?_

_-Lost his other contact_

_-Popped blood vessels _

_-Hererochromia irdium _

_-? ? ? ? _

He then returned to sketching a profile of the boy, trying to prefect his slightly upturned nose without making it look piggish. It took him 5 tries until he deemed the bridge to be satisfactory._ 9 stops to go. _

The redheaded boy leaned back in his seat casually and slid one hand into his pocket to change the song. Ninten focused on his jawline, attempting to translate it to paper. His eyebrows furrowed slightly in frustration as he focused on the curve of his lips. 5 _stops to go. _

Ninten was finishing off the ear when he looked up and noticed the bus was nearing the end of the line. He sighed heavily and closed his sketchbook, then slowly stood up in an attempt to stabilize himself. Unfortunately a short boy with a small build such as Ninten was no match for the jolting bus, and the abrupt stop knocked Ninten to the floor and his sketchbook In the air.

The redhead started laughing and stood up to offer his hand. Ninten, who was immensely embarrassed, grabbed his hand weakly in response. He was blushing profusely.

"You alright kid?" The boy towered over him, and suddenly Ninten felt very intimidated and small. Nonetheless he crossed his arms over his chest defensively.

"I'm _not_ a kid." He mumbled.

"Whatever you say kid." The tall boy ran his hands through his hair, then bent down to pick up Ninten's sketchbook off the ground. To Ninten's horror it had flipped open to a page with the ginger's profile drawn on it. In this moment Ninten wanted nothing more but to disappear.

"Woah is that me? I look pretty hot huh." He laughed, flipping through the pages of Ninten's sketckbook.

"Please give that back it's private." Ninten reached to grab the book but the boy lifted it out of his reach and proceeded to walk off the bus—Ninten trailing him close behind "I said give it back _now." _He made an effort to look intimidating by standing more on the balls of his feel and lifting his heels slightly. His arms were balled into fists as he gave Claus the harshest glare he could.

"How the fuck does someone get a red eye from _fight club_?" The tall boy pointed to list with the newest drawing on it, "and what the hell is _Heterochromia iridium_?" He was laughing to the point of tears, keeping the book well out of Ninten's reach.

"It's a genetic thing where your eyes are naturally two different colors. Could you please just give me that back and leave me alone?" He was flustered and anxious, jumping as high as he could to reach the book. He lost his balance again and collided into the ginger's chest. The taller boy caught him with his free arm. Ninten awkwardly pushed back against the boy's chest and looked up at the red-head.

"Okay fine, I was just trying to have a little fun. Here you go kid. My name's Claus by the way." He grinned, flashing beautifuly even teeth. His smile caught Ninten up for a minute. _Was this guy even real? _

"Ninten." He wheezed, trying to breath without pulling out his inhaler in a short sighted attempt to seem cool.

"Are you okay kid?"

"Stop calling... Me kid..." He wheezed again, this time giving in to his body's needs. He pulled out his red inhaler feeling like a complete dork and gave it a few puffs, breathing in the medicated air.

"You have asthma? That's _so_ cute." Claus smirked, giving Ninten a slight pinch on the cheek.

'_This asshole,' _Ninten thought _'this fucking asshole'. _"Shut up." Ninten turned away from him and began walking down the street towards his house.

"See you tomorrow kid! I'll let you draw my good side!"

_This cute asshole._

* * *

_AN: (oh god these are so fucking annoying I know.) I basically wrote this after seeing a lack of (good) fanfiction for Clausten. (Sorry for any spelling/grammatical errors I tried to read the chapter out loud to catch as many as I could.) I'm really only publishing for my friend so I can share my story with her. Feed back is nice, but please be aware that I have a lot of headcanons in here (ex: Ninten is short as hell, Ness can't cook well, Ninten looking everything up on the internet all the time, __ect.) that may or may not apply to these characters for you. Accept/reject them if you want, but I honestly won't care if you comment "Claus isn't like that- blah blah blah". I wrote their personalities as I see fit, and again I wrote this for myself mostly. (On final note my chapters are really short because this story wasn't supposed to be more than 3 chapters originally.) _

_thanks for reading!_

_-C.A.T._


	2. Over the weekend

_-2-_

* * *

The dreams were repetitive and vivid. Claus was always present, teasing and harassing Ninten wherever he turned. These intimidating dreams often woke the boy up in the middle of the night, tangled in blankets and silence. And yet, as much as these dreams scared Ninten, he often found himself thinking of Claus throughout the day, as if the boy found his way into the corners of Ninten's mind.

_-Mind control_

He added to his list, smiling slightly to himself. He hadn't been on the bus since Friday, and spent the whole weekend trying to prefect drawing Claus' face from memory. It became apparent as the weekend dragged on that Ninten was very much attracted to this unusual boy.

"What 'cha drawing?" A voice called out from behind Ninten, who turned to see a taller tanned boy leaning against the doorframe.

"None of your business Ness." Ninten quickly shut the sketchbook and tucked it partially under him.

"You're too sensitive Ninten, it's no big deal." Ness yawned and walked into the kitchen to fix himself some breakfast. "It's hard taking care of a kid who refuses to talk."

"I'm not a kid, Ness. Don't call me that."

"You're two years younger than me Cuz, you're a kid to me." Ness walked over to Ninten with a bowl of cereal in his left hand. In one swift motion he pulled the sketchbook from under him.

_"_Hey give that back!" Ninten yelled. _' I really got to build more upper arm strength'_

Ness casually walked away and set the cereal bowl down on a nearby countertop. He flipped through to the freshest page in the sketchbook. Claus was drawn flashing his beautiful smile and adorned a flower in his red hair.

"You're such a _girl _Ninten." He chuckled "Wait, I think I know this guy. Claus right?"

_' Shit.' _Ninten ripped the sketchbook out of Ness's unsuspecting hands and walked away. "Why do you care?"

"The dude's in my math class. He's quite the trouble maker. It's almost hard to believe he's related to his brother."

"Brother?"

"Oh yeah this cute blonde kid named Lucas. Quite the introvert, but I figure I could crack him."

"People aren't eggs Ness." Ninten cautioned _'Ness' over confidence is often his downfall.'_

"People aren't subjects either." He laughed, motioning towards the Claus drawing. "Or fairies, seriously dude what's up with the flower crown?"

"I don't know it was stupid okay. And it's just a _flower _not a _flower crown._" Ninten's face was red and he took an eraser to the paper.

"Do you think he's cute?" Ness raised his eyebrow flirtatiously, it was one of his more interesting talents.

"I find him _amusing." _Ninten responded. '_So Claus was older than him?' _Suddenly he began to question Claus's flirtatious vibe as actual teasing. _Could it be possible that someone a couple of years older could take interest in a sophomore? _

Ninten spent the rest of the day surfing the internet and researching people with red hair. Apparently 13% of all people in Scotland have naturally red hair, whereas Ireland only has 11%. After hours of looking up useless unappliable facts Ninten took a shower and attempted to go to bed early. Tomorrow he vowed to get up early and fix his hair somewhat properly.** Tomorrow he would speak to Claus. **

* * *

_AN(other shitty author's note): this is just me saying sorry for the super short chapters & mentioning that this story is set in an AU (obviously) so Ninten is basically in 10th grade whereas Ness,Lucas, & Claus are all high school seniors (normally I do picture Lucas as a junior but whatever) okay bye guys! Thanks for reading_

_-C.A.T._


	3. Claus pushes buttons

_-3-_

* * *

Ninten did end up talking with Claus, but not in the way he expected. He was sitting close to the window and listening to music when Claus stepped on the bus. Ninten kept on looking out he window, lost in his own thoughts. Suddenly he felt a presence sit down beside him. He could feel their thighs run alongside his, making him slightly uncomfortable. A hand reached up and pulled an ear bud out of his ear.

"HEY—" Ninten turned to find that his nose was within a foot of Calus'. Ninten went into sensory overload, breathing in the smell of his boyish body spray and staring awestruck into Claus' eyes. Without breaking eye contact he fumbled around his pocket and grabed his inhaler, bringing it up to his mouth with a small puff. "That's not okay dude."

"How else am I going to get you to pay attention to me? You're my favorite kind of entertainment kid, and you're so _damn cute_ when you're flustered." Claus winked.

"... I'm sorry _what_?" Ninten slid back slightly, pressing his left arm against the window. _Did Claus really call him cute? _

"Oh come on stop being such a tease." Claus pulled Ninten close and wrapped one arm around him, forcing Ninten's head to rest on his shoulder. Ninten made a half-assed effort to pull away but found himself frozen in place, dumbfounded. "This is a cute hat, it's rather old though." Claus ran his fingers along the frayed brim.

"My cousin gave it to me for my birthday a couple of years back." Ninten sheepishly smiled. Ness had always been there for him even when they were younger.

"Cousin?"

"Yeah, Ness. He said you have math together."

"Oh so you talk about me, eh?"

"No! I mean, uh—"

"I'm just messing around kid, don't get too high strung."

"I know but, I mean you don't have to... If you could just—"

"Shh kid you're ruining the moment." Claus layed his head on top of Ninten's.

"Please stop calling me a kid."

"Whatever you say... Kid." Ninten swung up his arm and tried to punch Claus, only to be caught by Claus' hand gripping his wrist. "Woah slow down you'll hurt yourself."

"I seriously doubt you're dangerous Claus."

"There's a lot you don't know about me kid." He said. They rode the rest of the way in silence.

* * *

_AN: thanks for reading, have a good day (: (oh and happy birthday to the game seeing as it's 4/20 (don't you even make that joke) _


	4. Home again

_-4-_

* * *

"I don't know _what_ to do Ness," Ninten was laying on the couch with his feet up in the air. "I still don't know what he wants from me."

"He asked me about you toda—"

"What really what did he say?" Ninten sat upright too quickly and gripped the side of the couch for support until dizziness subsided.

"Slow down Cuz. He just wanted to know a bit about you that's all."

"What did you tell him?" Ninten asked nervously.

"That you're a _giant_ weenie."

"You're kidding right?"

"Would I kid you?" Ness gave a cheeky smile and joined his cousin on the couch. "Alright, you caught me. I just told him some of your hobbies and what grade you're in. The basics."

"Why would he want to know that stuff?" Ninten crossed his arms defensively. Ness probably made him sound like a huge nerd. [BECAUSE YOU ARE A HUGE NERD NINTEN, YOURE A CUTE NERD. DEAL WITH IT.]

"It was sort of a trade." Ness said, getting uncharacteristically quiet. Ninten remembered him talking about that one guy Lucas.

"So you swapped information on your family members?"

"Essentially... Hey Ninten, how good are you at making omelettes?"

"Fairly good I suppose, why?"

"I'm bringing Lucas one tomorrow morning." Ness kicked his feet up on the table casually, crossing one leg over the other. "If you know how to make one without burning it, that'd be great. Everyone knows the way to a man's heart is through his stomach."

"And you call me the weenie." Ninten laughed. Ness grabed a small couch pillow and flung it into his cousin's stomach. "Hey you owe me an apology Ness! That actually hurt a little!" Ninten stood up & clutched his stomach, playfully pretending he was hurt.

"You've got to stop being so weak Ninten, it's gonna bite you in the ass!" Ness swung another pillow straight into Ninten's lower back, which made him jump forward and trip over the coffee table. He hit the floor with a harsh crash. Ness quickly dropped the pillow and helped his cousin up, horror struck.

"Okay that one really did hurt." Ninten muttered sheepishly. "It's not fun being bitten In the ass." He laughed.

"That's not funny Cuz, you're actually bleeding!" Ness exclaimed. Ninten had a scrape on his knee from the impact of the coffee table. It was oozing blood and now that the shock wore off Ninten was feeling a lot of pain. "Let me get you a band-aid." Ness went to get the first aid kit while Ninten researched the quickest ways to heal a bad knee. He propped his leg up and waited for Ness to bring the ice.

"I'm sorry Ninten I didn't mean to actually hurt you."

"It's okay Cousin, I'm a klutz, it's my fault," Ninten smiled to ease Ness' guilt. Ninten prayed his leg would heal up quickly.

* * *

_AN: AHHH Ninten & Ness playfully arguing is forever the cutest thing to me no one even start. I'm so sorry for all these really short chapters. This story really is meant to be binge-read all at once. I'm a failure in that sense. Oh well... thanks for reading anyways (sorry for spelling/grammatical errors, I tried to catch them all but you never know until someone is kind enough to point it out to you.) _

_-C.A.T._


	5. It all comes together

Unfortunately for Ninten & his oversensitive tendencies, his leg was hurting again when he woke up the next day to make the omelette for Ness.

"is Lucas a vegetarian?" He asked his cousin

"nope, although he's got a thing about pork... He doesn't like pigs very much or something like that."

"weird."

"I learned the hard way when I tried to share some of my ham sandwich with him. _who knew being romantic could be so hard?"_ Ness laughed and helped grab eggs for Ninten.

The cousins made small talk as Ninten cut green onions and toyed with the eggs in the pan. Pretty soon a golden half-moon of happiness formulated in the frying pan and Ninten grinned with satisfaction.

"Text me and tell me how it goes!" Ninten handed his brother the dish in an oh-so-classy plastic Tupperware container.

"Will do!" Ness smiled and patted Ninten's head. "You're a good kid, Ninten."

"Thanks Ness." Ninten smiled. He was beginning to grow accustomed to the word 'kid'.

He limped to his room and decided to wear pants today to cover the spongebob bandaid that was haphazardly slapped across his kneecap. As much as Ninten embarrassed himself on an everyday basis, he was not about to spoon feed Claus reasons to tease him.

The pants fit around the waist snugly enough with a belt, but left him flooded in the legs. He felt like any other kid in the 90's, _slightly ashamed and a little bit breezy. _

During Ninten's lunch period he felt his phone buzz in his pocket. The message said:

_Omelette worked. Date Friday. Told you I could crack him. -Ness_

Ninten smiled down at his phone. "Ness is such an idiot." He mumbled to himself. Just then he felt a strong hand on his shoulder and turned to see Claus sit next to him. Ninten was alarmed (as he was used to sitting at the lunch table by himself) and let out a small squeak.

"Did I scare you kid," Claus laughed, "relax, it's just me." He made a twisted face and Ninten laughed briefly, still shaken up a bit.

"What are you doing here?" He asked, trying to make his voice casual but failing horribly.

"I'm tired of staring at you from across the lunchroom. It's so boring. I figured it's easier to draw my up close anyways." Claus winked and motioned to the sketchbook on the table. It was closed now but the inside was filled with every feature of Claus' face drawn meticulously (and obsessively).

"Shut up." Ninten tried to act defensive and tough but failed to do so (again).

"I love pissing you off, it's so _adorable_." Claus smirked but Ninten saw his demeanor shift quietly. "Uh, listen kid... I know I've been nothing but shit to you-"

"No you haven't, you've been perfectly fine—"

"Shh kid let me get through this. Anyways, I was wondering if you were free this weekend?"

"My cousin'a going on a date so I doubt I have any plans."

"Great. I'll swing by your house on Friday." Claus stood up from the bench and began to walk away. Suddenly Ninten stood up & grabed Claus by his shoulder. Claus turned around to face Ninten. "What?"

"I never said yes." Ninten looked Claus dead in the eyes, "You can't just walk away without an answer."

Claus' confident mask faltered. Suddenly Ninten could see that he was very vulnerable. "I'm sorry Ninten, I'm not very good with rejection... Or letting people in." He sighed, bowing his head. "I'm a horrible person, I get that... I'll just leave you alone." His voice cracked slightly as he turned to leave.

"I didn't know you actually remembered my name."

"Are you kidding me?" Claus looked him in the eyes,"I can't get your name out of my head kid. I'm afraid if I say it outloud You won't be real anymore."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ninten asked, curious.

"It means you're too cute to exist kid. It's enough to make me lay awake at night." Claus gave a shy smile, realizing that he had not shared such information with anyone else, including his own twin.

"...Okay."

"Okay?"

"Okay I'll go on the date with you—But only if you promise not to act like an arrogant douchebag." Ninten smiled. _'I can't believe I actually said that out loud.' _

"Deal." Claus smiled from ear-to-ear, his cheeks deep red. Ninten picked up a pen off the lunch table and wrote his number neatly across Claus' hand. It was then the school bell rang and they had to go their separate ways.


	6. The end!

_-6-_

* * *

Date night. Ness had left two hours before Ninten had never felt so nervous in his life (b_esides the one time he walked in the girls bathroom in sixth grade because Ness dared him too)._ Ninten had gone through all the trouble to comb his hair nicely and wear his freshest shirt. Claus rang the doorbell at exactly 8:03 (_not like Ninten was checking the time every 20 seconds or anything) _ and when Ninten opened the door he was face to face with... Claus wearing his day-to-day clothes with his usual messy hair. Ninten felt like a total idiot for attempting to look nice and stared at his fairly new shoes.

"Wow you look hot." Claus said bluntly.

"Uh, I am feeling a little warm I suppose..." _'Oh my god did I forget to put in deodorant? I bet I have pit stains. Of course I have pit stains and he's just trying to be nice oh g-'_

"The _attractive _kind of hot kid. Don't you own a dictionary?"

"I think I have four."

"You're such a nerd." Claus laughed, reaching out and grabbing Ninten's hand. They walked (which Ninten was surprised about) through Ninten's neighborhood together.

"Sorry I don't have a car kid, I've never bothered to get a licence."

"It's okay." Ninten muttered softly. It was nice enough being with a cute boy who was kind enough to hold his hand. Claus led him to a small grey house about 5 blocks away from his own.

"Here we are!" Claus smiled triumphantly and turned back to face Ninten.

"Is this your house? I never knew you lived so _close_ to me."

"Here come on I'll show you around." Claus. Placed his hand on the small of Ninten's back and lightly guided him inside.

The house was tight and cozy. There was only one floor and most of the house had an open feeling to it despite being so small. They were standing in the livingroom, which had a television, an old couch, and a small side table for the remote on it. Claus closed the dark heavy curtians and popped in a DVD.

"Make yourself at home. I hope you don't mind watching a movie."

"Isn't that what most first dates are?"

"Why do you want to go skipydiving instead because I know a guy."

"uh no thank you, tell you the truth I'd probably pee myself."

"Yeah I'm not much for heights myself." Claus flopped down onto the couch and pulled up a blanket. Ninten tried to sit on the opposite side of the couch but Claus pulled him close and threw the blanket over them both. The opening credits rolled and Ninten saw the avengers logo flash across the screen.

The movie was faced paced. Claus was fully engrossed in the film but Ninten couldn't help his mind from wandering off.

"Hey Claus?" Ninten was leaning against Claus with his head resting on the ginger's shoulder.

"Yeah?"

"Why did you say you were dangerous?"

"When did I say that?"

"On the bus."

"Oh yeah. I mean, I'm not that good of a person Ninten."

"Why?" Ninten asked

"Because I don't know how to express how I'm feeling and I make people feel bad."

"... You don't make me feel bad." Claus laughed.

"What do you mean I tease you all the time. How could you not feel bad."

"I'm used to teasing, it doesn't bother me all that much you know."

"Ninten... That's the saddest thing I've ever heard."

"... I'm sorry."

"Don't be." Claus turned and kissed Ninten on his forehead. "I don't want you to be sad anymore okay, I won't allow it."

Ninten sat up and turned his torso to face Claus. He leaned in and kissed the red head on his cheek. "How can I be sad if you're sitting right there?" Ninten whispered breathlessly, dumbfounded by his own courage.

"You're such a cheesy nerd." Claus cupped Ninten's chin and kissed him fully on the lips.

"I know." Ninten smiled. Their noses were millimeters apart.

"It's a good thing I'm into nerds." Claus smiled. And then they kissed again.

* * *

_AN: and that's it. Thanks for reading I hope you liked it. This isn't my best story but it's alright I suppose (: have a good day! _


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